Texas Geography is: The study of Texas and the people who live in it.

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Texas Geography is The study of Texas and the
people who live in it.

• Texas Landforms Texas has mountains, plains,
  valleys, rivers, plateaus, escarpments.
• Texas Climate is the average weather of a
  location. Texas is so large it has more than one
  climate!
• Resources soil, plant animal life, water
  timber, grass, oil and gas, rock, sand, etc.
• (What we need to survive!)

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• Geography (Landforms, Climate, Resources) affects
  how we live
• What we eat,
• what we wear,
• what kind of tools we use,
• what kind of house we live in,
• how we travel.

A Comanche Camp Drawing by James E. Taylor
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Absolute Location absolutely where you are!

• Lines of longitude run north and south are
  called meridians. (from Pole to Pole)
• Lines of latitude run horizontally around the
  earth east to west. (Equator)
• The Earth is divided into hemispheres Northern
  and Southern, but also Eastern and Western.
  N W E
• S

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• Absolute location Exact location on the Earth
  by latitude and longitude.
• Example Tyler is located at ____degrees
  ___latitude and ____degrees ___ longitude
• Relative location The location of one place in
  relationship to another location.
• Houston is south of Tyler.

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Resources what we need to live

• Effect---

• Cause---

• Resources can be depleted
• Pollution

• People use resources to live for food,
  shelter, clothing, tools

American Indians valued the land and its
resources. Do we value the land and resources
today? Drawing of Plains Indians by James E.
Taylor
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Human-Environment Interaction

• 1. 2 ways people use the environment and change
  it for better or worse
• a.
• b.
• 2 ways the physical features affect people
• a.
• b.

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Climate of Texas

• Middle Latitudes (between North Pole and Equator)
  gives Texas mild winters and hot summers
• Gulf Air Stream brings warm moist air from Gulf
  of Mexico over Eastern Texas causing rain,
  humidity, warmer winters
• Warm, moist Gulf air meets Cold, dry air from the
  North causing violent storms and tornadoes

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• Middle Latitudes

• Gulf Air over Texas

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Topography and Elevation

• Sea Level at Gulf Coast
• Rising in elevation from the coast to the west
• Coastal Plains on the coast
• Plateaus or Tablelands start in the western half
  of Texas, formed by escarpments where land is
  pushed upward on a fault line
• Mountains farthest West

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Escarpments

• Balcones Escarpment created the Edwards Plateau
  west of Austin, part of it is known as the Texas
  Hill Country
• Cap Rock Escarpment created the Llano Estacado
  and the Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle

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Caprock Escarpment
Balcones Escarpment
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Water Resources

• Gulf of Mexico provides sea ports for shipping
  and seafood
• Rivers provide water for transportation,
  drinking, irrigation
• Have been dammed to provide reservoirs or lakes
  which meet Texas water needs
• Droughts are times of little rain.

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Texas Aquifers

• Underground reservoirs hold much of Texas water
  resources.
• Major aquifers
• Balcones Aquifer under the Edwards Plateau
• Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer under East Texas
• Ogalalla Aquifer under the High Plains of the
  Panhandle

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• Aquifers provide water through springs which seep
  out of the ground, forming rivers and streams
• Water is pumped out of aquifers to provide
  irrigation and water needs of population
• Cant be refilled without rain.
• Conservation practices insure enough water for
  future needs.